The​ announcers were too​ dim-witted to notice​ but​ the Broncos​ wisely​ letting Todd​ Gurley​ run​ the​ ball up and​ down the​​ field resulted in the Rams being below average in scoring points.

I wondered about this during the game. I remember Belicheat talking about how they wanted the Rams to run in the Super Bowl. I remember him saying that they felt if Marshall Faulk got over 100 yards, then the Pats would have a chance.

What made me wonder about that was that for all the success Gurley was having on the ground, then play action should be working, but it wasn’t. Whenever they showed a replay of one of Goff’s incompletions it seemed like every Rams receiver was locked up with a defender. Play action passing isn’t going to be effective when the defense ignores the “play action” part – which is what a defense can do if they aren’t vested in stopping the running game.

So, what do the Rams do if other teams try to limit their scoring by giving them the running game and taking away the pass?

Then they need to take what the defense is gives them. Run it. But scoring TDs in the redzone becomes more of a priority, so McVay can’t be as impatient as he was against Denver. And the defense needs to get off the field. They have to tighten up the pass defense.

And that might not be as difficult as it seems.

I don’t think the Rams pass defense was that bad against Denver. Hill gave up a coupla big plays, but that last Denver drive to get to within three points never should have happened. A Denver receiver committed a blatant pass interference penalty against Hill that the refs completely missed. Then there was the phantom facemask penalty on Countess, and the bad interference penalty on Shields on what was arguably an uncatchable ball. The Broncos likely don’t score if they weren’t aided by those bad calls and non-calls.

The biggest problem with the Rams pass defense is the lack of a pass rush. Sure, Donald and Suh are great at hurrying the QB, but the QB just rolls away from pressure and finds a receiver. They need to find an edge rusher that can keep the QB in the pocket. Hopefully Ogbonnia Okoronkwo can help. The fact that Matt Longacre sees extensive playing time as an edge rusher is an indictment of the talent the Rams have at that spot.

I saw this movie yesterday. I agree completely with your take.

Here there be spoilers…………….

PA Ram wrote:

My only negative comments center around the emotion of the film. It is not emotionally gripping because the protagonist is not emotionally gripping. The film is still stunning in its own way, but it lacks the attachment to character that “The Right Stuff” and “Apollo 13” had and there is very little or no humor. I do wish the film had opened up a bit to include a bit more Buzz Aldrin. He seems like he may have been the more interesting character but it isn’t his story and he’s just a minor character in a story which he obviously played a major role.

Still, it is a fine film–the best I’ve seen this year in terms of drama.

It’s a long film but I didn’t mind it. I thought it flowed well enough.

As I said–this is the missing film in the space race trilogy and it was needed.

After seeing the movie, I watched a NASA historian’s take on the film, because like you, I was puzzled by the lack of emotion expressed by Armstrong in the film. I mean, yeah the guy was said to be stoic, but c’mon, how can you not express emotion given what he was experiencing?

The historian didn’t really like this aspect of the film. SHe says she has read every flight transcript of every NASA mission, including all those with Neil Armstrong, and she said the film overplayed his stoicism, especially while in space. The film also didn’t show the camaraderie that existed among the flight crews. These guys weren’t necessarily friends on earth but in space there was a camaraderie that existed among people whose lives were in each other’s hands. This is evident in the flight transcripts, which show Armstrong joking around with his crewmates.

The other flaw is the long silent interlude that Armstrong experienced on the moon when he dropped his daughter’s bracelet into the crater. It was a moving scene, but it never could have happened. According to the historian, there was hardly a moment while the astronauts were walking on the moon that their helmet radios wouldn’t have been filled with chatter from Mission Control. They were only going to be walking on the moon for a short period and there were many questions to be answered and a lot of work to get done. The radio chatter was by design. NASA was afraid the astronauts could become overwhelmed by where they were and what they were doing, so they were constantly talking to them to keep them focused and on task.

On the other hand, my wife saw an interview with Armstrong where he said the decent to the moon in the lander and walking on its surface was rather dull, so… maybe the film does have Armstrong pegged. 🙂

PS…the historian said the best film that shows what astronauts were like as people and how they interacted with each other remains Apollo 13. She wasn’t sure why First Man chose to depict Buzz Aldren as an insensitive asshole. She said he was/is nothing like that.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 8 months ago by nittany ram.

Even if they go 3-3 against the highlighted teams on that schedule, the path to having HFA throughout the playoffs is wide open to them. The Saints schedule is tougher IMO.

Barring injury, they’ll have to really choke to mess it up.

The Non-GMO Project is a for-profit organization that awards the rights to display that label to any company that’s willing to pay for it.

Even when its a product that contains no genes, like the water pictured above. There’s even Non-GMO Project Verified table salt.

I do my best not to buy products that contain that ridiculous label, but it’s getting harder and harder to do so.

canadaram wrote:

Another solid 4th quarter from the Rams defense. I’d like to see them pull that off for four quarters against a good offense, but I’m very happy about the win in what I expected to be a close game. Wilson had too much time for three quarters, and the way he moves around it is difficult for a DB to stay with his man for that long. That said Peters was disappointing for sure. I totally expected Goff to regress this year, super happy to be incorrect so far. That was an unfortunate bounce on his first INT. Perhaps it’s a slightly different game if the Rams score there? Anyway, I’m still not distanced enough from 2005 – 2016 to be anything but overjoyed with the Rams being 5-0.

Seattle’s o-line was much improved over the clowns that the Mob Squad feasted on the past few years. They did a decent job pass protecting and opened up some nice holes in the run game although Inthink most of the issues with run defense involved defenders being out of position/getting fooled by the read option.

InvaderRam wrote:

but more than that. the run defense was worse. i don’t know how they fix it. but they gotta fix it. 190 yards on almost 6 ypc. not acceptable. i’m officially worried.

Well, they were 5th in the league against the run coming into that game, so hopefully that was an aberration and Phillips and Co can fix it. They seemed to really struggle against the Read Option. I mean, who gets fooled by that anymore? But the problem seemed to be more about guys not filling gaps like they’re supposed to rather than just getting physically beat. At least that’s how I saw it.

zn wrote:

He needs a game of nothing but drops or people are going to get weirded out .

When he drops a perfectly thrown TD pass and then shoves his QB on the sideline as the QB tries to console him, then we’ll know Jared is back.

I don’t know why spraying would be ‘impractical’ as the DARPA rep claimed. On the contrary, it seems like the most practical way to deliver the virus.

Anything beneficial that science creates can be corrupted. You sorta have to keep that ‘potential for corruption’ in mind when developing new technologies. It’s a ‘risk vs reward’ situation.

I’m afraid of the very real possibility that eventually the NFL, having grown weary of serving as the Rams’ chew toy for so long, will disband, then reform in a different country under a different name so the Rams can’t find them.

I loved it. Jeffrey Tambor was great too.

zn wrote:

Highlights from Bears/Bucs.

Look at how wide open the Bears receivers are on these plays.

Yeah, Tribiski played well but that was more about the Bucs defense being really bad than anything else.

I’ll flip around from game to game but I’ll mainly be interested in the Eagles/Titans game.

Eternal Ramnation wrote:

wv wrote:

of pleasing appearance; handsome.

Thanks wv I feel like I know myself now.

Bragging is unseemly.